Crystalle Bobbe
- Jul 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Crystalle Bobbe is a performance artist who has exhibited and performed in major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, Paris, London, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Geneva, Zurich, Toulouse, and Barcelona. Some recent performances have included the Intercontinental Bienal 2026 at the Museo Nacional da República in Brasília, Brazil, EDO 2026 in Horka nad Moravou, Czech Republic, Meno Parkas Gallery in Kaunas, Lithuania, International Video Art Festival in Vienna, and Nellimya Arthouse in Aranno, Switzerland.
MANDELA – Pilot of the Winds is an anti-war interdisciplinary performance which integrates wind, object and environmental manipulation, and the musical score Sarajevo by Max Richter. The performance practices’ de-choreographing’ in allowing textile and fiber-like materials to flow freely in the air from pressurized wind without direct guidance, but rather to sustain the natural movement. The air-flowing textiles and objects are not choreographed to the music or a particular narrative, but instead are free-flowing metaphorical ‘dancers’ expressing lost, traumatized souls consumed by endless cycles of contemporary warfare and the resulting social collapse. In essence, the performance asks a philosophical question as to whether inflicted individuals can ever fly again.
As the flying objects float and dance in the air, either through scattering as a whirlwind or flowing vertically, the viewer will enter into a meditative state amidst the somber score of Sarajevo, the theatrical staged lighting, and a performer who practices a sustainment of this naturally-moving energy accentuated by the folds of fabric and other materials shaped by harrowing winds. The ‘dance’ of the objects, especially the elongated textile tapestry, reveals a visual comprehension of light and shadow. These spaces of illumination and accents of form convey a conceptual connotation almost as if they were peaceful doves dancing in chaos. This especially becomes noted with the sustained-white tone of the fabrics and materials. The echoing of the somber yet energetic score followed by textiles which mold cloud-like forms and reveal accents of dramatic drapery create a thoroughly theatrical effect of the scattering-like psychological and sociological impact of war.
In the finale, a backdrop of an image containing a playground of swings with missing entities, only revealed through ominous shadows of children. This apparition-like effect followed by the hollowing screams of the stimulated white-floating tapestries and haunting score of Sarajevo reveals the most impacted scars of war are left on the most impressionable, which being the young and children. The image is covered in a mystical sfumato and heavy shadows followed by destroyed buildings and structures in the background. Crystalle Bobbe accompanies her performance in poetic texts, most notably with; “Traumatized, physically and mentally ill, internally dead, barely existing, their souls wounded, will they ever be able to return to a normal life? This unspeakable horror of war accompanies us all…when the soul takes flight, the person dances”. Such a description reveals a conceptual notion of revealing the invisible and elusive consequences of war.
Developed over two years, Crystalle Bobbe’s performance of MANDELA – Pilot of the Winds is based on investigating how to execute a performative installation about the conceptual notion of flying. As a result, her rehearsals are more about exploring experimentation rather than imitating pre-conceived or choreographed ideas. The resulting performance has thus entailed an exercise in observation, experimentation, and refinement. Crystalle Bobbe describes the forms of the floating objects as “soul bodies”, which conceptually convey the psychological and emotional impact of war through improvised movement, wind, and music. MANDELA – Pilot of the Winds is a beautiful and avant-garde performance which uses integrative practices, metaphor, indirect narrative, and a deep sense of theatrical depth to communicate the horrors of war as well as the scarred souls seeking to soar again amidst ruminations of chaos and tyranny.
